Watersports involving powered watercraft have enjoyed a long history. Water skiing's decades-long popularity spawned the creation of specialized watercraft designed specifically for the sport. Such “skiboats” are optimized to produce very small wakes in the water behind the watercraft's hull, thereby providing the smoothest possible water to the trailing water skier.
More recently, watersports have arisen which actually take advantage of, and benefit from, the wake produced by a watercraft. Wakeboarding, wakeskating, and kneeboarding all use the watercraft's wake to enable the participants to perform various maneuvers or “tricks” including becoming airborne.
As with water skiing, specialized watercraft known as “wakeboats” have been developed for these sports. Present-day wakeboats and skiboats are often up to 30 feet in hull length with accommodation for up to 30 passengers. Contrary to skiboats, however, wakeboats seek to enhance the wake produced by the hull using a variety of techniques. The wakes available behind some modern wakeboats have become so large and developed that it is now even possible to “wakesurf”, or ride a surfboard on the wake, without a towrope or other connection to the watercraft whatsoever.
Improvements to wakeboats and skiboats and the safety of their operation would be very advantageous to the fast-growing watersports market and the watercraft industry in general.